Kimberly King Parsons
American writer
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Kimberly King Parsons is an American author and educator. She is the author of the short story collection Black Light (2019), which was longlisted for the National Book Award[1] and the Story Prize,[2] and the novel We Were the Universe (2024), which won the Ken Kesey Award for Fiction at the Oregon Book Awards[3] and was ranked number two on TIME Magazine's Best Books of 2024.[4]
Kimberly King Parsons | |
|---|---|
Kimberly King Parsons at Elliott Bay Book Company in 2024 | |
| Born | Texas, U.S. |
| Education | Columbia University |
| Occupations | Novelist, short story author |
| Website | www |
Early life and education
Parsons was born in Lubbock, Texas.[5] She received her MFA from Columbia University, where she served as editor-in-chief of Columbia: A Journal of Literature and Art.[5]
Career
Black Light
Parsons's debut collection, Black Light, was published by Vintage Books in August 2019.[6] In 2019, Black Light was longlisted for the National Book Award[5] and the Story Prize.[7] In NPR, Michael Schaub called it "a wild and compassionate debut collection," praising Parsons for writing "with the unpredictable power of a firecracker" and for proving herself "a gutsy country-punk poet with a keen eye and a stubbornly unique sensibility."[8] In the Los Angeles Times, Nathan Deuel wrote that the collection was "a book for the lonely, for the losers poised for more—it's a celebration of and a deeply felt meditation on the injustice, cruelty and a million private horrors endured by the weak and the unloved."[9]
We Were the Universe
Parsons's debut novel, We Were the Universe, was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2024.[10] The novel was selected as a Dakota Johnson Book Club pick and ranked number two on TIME Magazine's Best Books of 2024.[11] In the New York Times Book Review, Alissa Nutting praised the novel's emotional depth and narrative structure, describing it as entertaining and singular in its approach.[12] Nutting noted that "Parsons has gifted us with a profound, gutsy tale of grief's dismantling power."[13]
In 2025, We Were the Universe won the Ken Kesey Award for Fiction at the Oregon Book Awards.[14] The novel was also a finalist for the 37th Annual Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Fiction.[15]
Awards
| Year | Work | Award | Category | Result | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Black Light | National Book Award for Fiction | Fiction | Longlisted | [16] |
| Story Prize | Short Story Collection | Longlisted | [17] | ||
| 2020 | Edmund White Award | Debut Fiction | Shortlisted | [18] | |
| Oregon Book Awards | Fiction | Shortlisted | [19] | ||
| Texas Institute of Letters Awards | Best First Fiction | Shortlisted | [20] | ||
| 2020 | "Foxes" | National Magazine Award | Fiction | Won | [21] |
| 2024–2025 | We Were the Universe | Ken Kesey Oregon Book Award | Fiction | Won | [22] |
| Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award | Fiction | Shortlisted | [23] | ||
| Lambda Literary Award | Bisexual Fiction | Shortlisted | [24] | ||
| Premio Letterario The Bridge | American Fiction | Shortlisted | [25] | ||
| Writers League of Texas Book Award | Fiction | Shortlisted | [26] | ||
| Joyce Carol Oates Prize | Fiction | Longlisted | [27] | ||
Other work and awards
Teaching
Parsons teaches fiction in the MFA Writing Program at Pacific University in Oregon.[29]
Personal life
Parsons lives in Portland, Oregon.[30]